White Houses
by aniron17
Summary: Based on the Vanessa Carlton song of the same title, White Houses is an AU work involving canon and non-canon pairings as they try to coexist in a boarding house.


White Houses- Tindomiel

Disclaimer: Gawd, I really, really, REALLY hate this. Rurouni Kenshin and all related characters are property of Watsuki Nobuhiro. smiles sweetly Nobuhiro-sama? in an equally saccharine voice I'd really like Aoshi and Soujirou in a box for Christmas...

Watsuki Nobuhiro: Yes, you and fourteen thousand seven hundred fangirls/fanboys all over the globe.

Durnit. Must now go ask Santa.

Chapter One: Crashing on the floor

Soujirou eyed the address on the slip of paper blearily. Thankfully, the writing was neat and easy to understand.

"The Kamiya Dojo" it proclaimed in both kanji and English. He looked up and saw a polished brass knocker. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed it and tapped it twice on the solid wooden door. "Wait a minute!" a high, clear voice came from the other side.

"Hi!" The girl opened the door and smiled warmly at Soujirou. Her blue eyes were wide and welcoming, her black ponytail curled perfectly at its end.

"I'm Kamiya Kaoru. You can call me Kaoru-chan."

"Seta Soujirou. Sou for short."

"I'm sorry, but we're a bit cramped for space, so, um, I hope you don't mind sharing a room."

Soujirou eyed his surroundings. The floor was polished; the windows were clean and hung with bright curtains. He could smell fresh flowers and cooking food.

"It's okay." Soujirou didn't think it prudent to remark that the house was the cleanest one he'd seen since... well, ever.

"Oh, thanks. Your roommate's a bit on the absentee side anyway, and there's always the garden if you like your privacy." Kaoru slipped a key into the lock and pushed the shoji aside. Soujirou let out a breath as he took in the room. There were two beds, both low, on either side of the room. There was a closet on either side as well. One side of the room was messy, piles of (probably unwashed) clothes on the floor and papers in disarray. The other side was almost stark in its cleanliness, and there were clean white bedsheets on the bed. The other bed had navy blue sheets on it.

"It's not exactly the Hilton, but we do our best." Kaoru crossed the room and pushed open the other screen door that led outside, letting in a welcome breeze. Then she turned around and sat on the bed.

"So... if you don't mind me asking... what are you doing here?"

"I'm here in the Dojo because it's what the boarding service found me on short notice. I'm here in Tokyo because I'm looking for my father, who abandoned me, my sister and my mother in Kyoto when I was seven."

"Where's your mom then?" Kaoru flipped herself over on her stomach and balanced her chin in her hands.

"She passed away late last year. My onee-san decided that it was time to find him, but she was tied up with work. I didn't want to go to college just yet though, so I decided to turn this into a pseudo-road trip." Soujirou smiled amusedly. "Without the car."

"Oh... I'm sorry." Kaoru looked down for a minute.

"So, um, you manage this by yourself?" Soujirou said, to keep the atmosphere light.

"Yup, with a few friends." She bit her lip and continued. "It's mine, since my mom and dad passed away when I was seven and my aunt decided to immigrate to California last year." Seeing Soujirou open his mouth, she held up her hand. "Don't be sorry. I've coped, and we don't want to be too serious!" she smiled at him. "Put your stuff there and come with me." She pointed to a corner. "I'll go introduce you to the others."

(border)

"Kenshin!" A figure that Soujirou had mistaken for a woman turned from the kitchen countertop. "This is Sou, the new boarder." Kaoru turned to Soujirou. "Kenshin's like the cook and handyman around here. He usually teaches art history at the university." Soujirou smiled at Kenshin, who had long red hair bound in a low ponytail.

"Nice to meet you, Soujirou." The intonation was softly formal and Soujirou returned the greeting.

"Oie! Give that back chibi!" A flash of blue and black passed Soujirou, followed by another flash of yellow and green. Kenshin let go of his knife and caught the first flash up and Kaoru grabbed the other's collar. It turned out to be a cute little girl in a dark blue shirt and shorts and a boy a few years younger than Soujirou in a yellow shirt and gray pants. The girl was holding a bamboo sword above her head, obviously the reason why she was being chased.

"Misao," Kenshin spoke warningly. "Give the bokken back to Yahiko, please?" The little girl bit her lip and handed it to the boy, who gave a final growl.

Kaoru smiled apologetically at Soujirou. "This is Yahiko, my younger brother. He's thirteen." The boy bowed politely, still glaring at the little girl, who stuck her tongue out at him. "And this is Misao. She's your roommate's little sister. She's eight." There was a rush of quick footsteps, and a girl in middle school uniform came rushing in. "I saw Yahiko chasing Misao. Are they okay?"

"Yes, they are." Kaoru gestured for the girl to come in. "This is Tsubame, my cousin. She's thirteen as well. All of you, this is Soujirou, who will be rooming with Aoshi, since Sanosuke took the upper bedroom." She looked around the kitchen, eyes finally settling on Kenshin. "Where is Sanosuke anyway?"

"He went down to the post office this morning. He's expecting some word, you know." Kenshin answered slowly.

Kaoru's eyes clouded with some unknown emotion. There were footsteps again, and a delighted crash. "Slow down, Notaru! Guys, guys! Where are you?" a loud male voice echoed.

"Here, Sanosuke!" Kenshin called back. A tall guy with unruly brown hair crashed through the door, followed by a shaggy-haired dog who the three children welcomed with petting and open arms.

"I got a letter from Hajime today! He says not to worry, he'll probably be on the next flight home. Thank Kami-sama!" his voice was warm with relief. "Who are you?" he said suddenly, eyeing Soujirou.

"I'm Seta Soujirou. I'll be rooming with, um..." Soujirou searched for the name.

"He'll be boarding with Aoshi."

"Ooh. I feel for you, man. Really, I do." Sanosuke said.

"Sano! You're scaring him." To Soujirou, "He's not really that, um, bad. Just unfriendly at first. Right, kids?"

"I think he killed someone." Yahiko said seriously.

"He has a tattoo, but he's very nice." Tsubame's eyes moved away. "I think?"

"My oniisan can probably think of twenty ways to kill you in your sleep." Misao added cheerfully. Notaru barked in agreement.

Silence reigned in the kitchen. Then there was the click of an oven being turned off, and a pot being lifted.

"Dinner's ready!" Kenshin proclaimed happily. Life returned to the boarders.

(border)

After dinner, he had refused Kaoru's invitation to watch TV with them, saying that he had to unpack. Now he was finished, and he sort of expected his roommate to be back. But he wasn't, and Soujirou was just a teeny bit scared of Shinomori Aoshi. Just a little bit.

All right. He was scared shitless of the guy, and he wasn't ashamed of it. He snuggled down deeper into his blankets.

There was a crash, and a bit of drunken stumbling around. The screen door from the garden slipped open. Soujirou opened his eyes slowly, peeking at the new arrival.

Shinomori Aoshi was tall, very tall compared to him, and he seemed to think that he was alone in the room, for he suddenly pulled his thick black sweater over his head, revealing an expanse of firm tanned muscle.

Soujirou blushed. He was ogling the man, that much was evident. He quickly shut his eyes and shifted around.

"Oie." Aoshi said in his deep voice. He strode over to the bed and pulled the bedclothes off Soujirou, who was bright red. "Who the hell are you?" The smell of alcohol was evident on the man's breath, but not unpleasantly so. The eyes were intense and blue, the blue of a frozen lake in mid-December. Aoshi's features were chiseled and smooth. Nice to look at. Suddenly, Aoshi's eyes clouded and he fell forward in a dead slump.

Right on top of poor Soujirou, who, try as he might, could not get the man's deadweight off him. He let out a soft whimper and thought of waking the house up by screaming for help. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Then he weighed his options.

One, he could call for help, but that would result in Aoshi getting more pissed at his new roommate and the others at their new housemate. Plus it would be so embarrassing.

Two, he could whisper loudly in Aoshi's ear, but it didn't look as if it would have much effect.

Three, he could try pushing the man off again, but then Aoshi could fall to the floor, or Soujirou, or both of them, causing pain and much discomfort to the two of them.

Or... well... he could leave Aoshi like this and postpone the embarrassment until sunlight shone through the paper screen of the outside shoji. He whimpered again, the sound catching in his throat.

"Hi, I'm Seta Soujirou, your new roommate." Soujirou managed to squeak out. "You must be Shinomori Aoshi. Nice to meet you." He poked at the man in a weak attempt to wake him up.

"Why couldn't you have rolled over so I could at least sleep on the floor and spared us both the humiliating discussion in the morning?" And so, with that particular thought fermenting in Soujirou's brain, he fell asleep.

(border)

Sometime during the night, Aoshi woke from his alcohol-soaked slumber and felt a small, warm presence sleeping underneath him. Convinced that it was just a dream, he moved slightly off the smaller entity and blinked owlishly at it.

He decided that it was a pretty enough figment of his imagination, for this particular kind of dream anyway, so he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and buried his face in the latter's soft brown hair. Then he fell asleep again.

Notes:

Notaru is the dog Sanosuke found in one of the episodes. The big, shaggy one who swallowed a ring?

I am also a Saitou/Sano shipper, and I am not afraid of saying so. I think it's kind of cute.

So, basically, the pairings in this story are: Kenshin/Kaoru, Aoshi/Soujirou, Saitou/Sano, Yahiko/Tsubame (I have a special plot twist planned for that. This is such a cute pairing) If I think of anymore, I'll put them in later chapters.

So? Like it, hate it? Read and review! I'll try my hardest to reply to all of them!

In the next installment of White Houses:

-The morning after scenario (a hungover Aoshi!)

-More about Sano and Saitou

-Baby-sitting blues (of Sou-chan)

-And something else. Just need to finish the chapter outline.

Oh, and if anyone's willing to beta, just leave a review! Also, is giving me hell with my borders. grr.


End file.
